What can you do? What can any of us do?
The answers to these questions will be both national and intensely personal. Perhaps there are national policies that could have had an impact on these events. If no guns were available, this guy would have had a hard time marshalling the firepower he carried. And surely we will hear calls for wider concealed carry permitting, so that people can carry more guns into movie theaters, and be able to shoot back if someone else starts shooting.
But also there was the shooter’s personal story. Why did he do what he did? What were his goals? What were his motivations? The answers to these questions may or may not lead to the prevention of further crimes. But the answers will help people feel like they understand.
No matter what information we get, none of us will probably ever be in a situation where we could do something. We won’t have the power. And if we did have the power, we wouldn’t agree on what should be done. So in the end, we all feel a bit more fear and hopelessness because we know we won’t be able to prevent it from happening again.
It is at times like these that I take comfort in numbers. These events are very rare. It is extremely unlikely that any of us will ever be hurt in a similar situation. They don’t happen often enough. The fact that the news is all over these stories like flies on shit makes us feel like they are more prevalent than they are. Our fight or flight reflexes have kicked in—for many of us. Still others have no such reaction. We yawn and then wonder if there is something wrong with us for not getting anxious because we dodged a bullet.
Personally, I feel that yawning is a sensible response. That doesn’t mean you don’t care. It just means that it is a sensible response, given the danger you are in (none).